An education system that makes you literate and educated just enough to dream of having a better life, then throws you in the trap of scarce job opportunities and asks you to fend for on the pretext of merit, is an unjust system.
I have a 24-year-old cousin. He grew up in a village – a very backward one. When I say backward, I don’t mean that it lacks shopping malls or high-rise residential complexes; I call it so because children like my brother got a poor education.
My brother and I grew up together, although at different places. He was at our village and I, at in a town. He’s just two years younger to me. And here I am, sitting in an AC office, somewhere in Delhi NCR, and typing English.
He’s running a never-ending race to get a sarkari naukri (government job). He went to places like Ara and Buxar to get coaching for these jobs. He now lives in Patna, the capital of Bihar, for the same reason. It has been more than 5 years.
I studied in a ‘good’ (private) school; my brother went to study in a government school. He faced insincerity from his teachers. And because children at that age like to play more than they like to study, no-one questioned him or even complained.
Private schools have mushroomed at every nook and corner of the country, and governments are happy since they themselves have deprioritised education. And this deprioritising of education is fuelling inequality at a massive scale.